Daily Archives: June 20, 2013

Things really took off on the offensive side of the ball in 2012, didn’t they? I mean, those are some remarkable numbers there.

The Dawgs were No. 1 in the nation at 7.09 yards per play. When they got in the red zone, they finished, scoring a touchdown in 76 percent of trips, which tied for No. 3 in the nation. If they had scored the winning touchdown against Alabama on the final play, they would have tied for No. 2 in red zone touchdown percentage and played for the national championship.

It’s interesting that in a world in which the trendy development is to go ever faster on offense, Bobo slowed Georgia’s offense down fairly dramatically (almost 10% less plays run than in 2011) but got significant increases in offensive efficiency to more than offset that, as Georgia scored almost a touchdown more per game than during the previous season.

Are we seeing an offensive coordinator who’s finally grown comfortable in his own skin, or a man who’s got enough offensive weapons at his disposal that it’s simply too tough for opposing defenses to shut down consistently? I’d say yes. Seriously, I don’t really care which is more the case. But I sure am looking forward to seeing what the Georgia offense is capable of in 2013.

It’s funny, the optimism from Georgia fans’ about this young defense may have actually reached the point where too much is being expected. I’ve said all along that this unit can put up similar stats as last year’s defense, which in the end should be good enough, as long as the offense repeats its 2012 performance. But expectations still shouldn’t be too high. If this defense ranks in the top four in the SEC, that will be stupendous.

Boy, would it. Georgia finished sixth in total defense in the SEC last season. And between the greenness of this year’s secondary and the departure of the otherworldly talents of Jarvis Jones, I’m of a mind to say that if they just equal last year’s results, it would be pretty satisfactory.

Georgia is embarking on a long overdue upgrade of Foley Field, one that involves asking for donors to pony up serious money to the cause before Butts-Mehre will chip in the first penny. Seth Emerson, bless his heart, asks Greg McGarity the obvious question about Georgia’s precioussss reserve fund:

Now here comes the sticky question: Georgia currently has a reserve fund of about $70 million, so why not just take from that, rather than ask for money from donors?

McGarity, in an interview, said using the reserve fund should be the last resort.

“It would be like you or me dipping into our 401K. You only want to do that when it’s absolutely necessary,” McGarity said. “In the meantime, we do feel like there will be a response from our donors to raise 50 percent of the funds necessary for this. That is a funding model that was used at the University of Florida on projects of this nature, and it’s one that we’re going to use on this model also, and basically do it up front.

“Sure, there are a lot of things that we could do with our reserve. But what we want to do is use that reserve only when it’s essential to use. … The reason we are in such good financial shape is that’s been sort of a philosophy for a number of years: use the reserve when that’s absolutely the only option you have. And in a situation like this, there are other options.”

Only at Georgia do you look at capital improvements to an aging facility as necessary only if nobody else will pay for them. Until that happens, promise ‘em anything.

“What we are going to do next is going to wow people,” head coach Scott Stricklin, who was hired a couple weeks ago, said in a statement. “At some point, when a recruit is on this campus, we need them to say wow. And that is what Foley Field is going to be in the very near future.”

I figure he can get away with showing recruits stadium mock ups for at least a couple of years before they start asking questions.

And you still wonder whether Richt will get an indoor practice facility. Know anybody that wants to buy one?

Perhaps you’ve noticed that Johnny Football’s gotten a lot of media attention this offseason whether he’s wanted it or not. You win the Heisman in an unprecedented fashion and getting Tebow-ized by ESPN and its ilk comes with the territory. Manziel’s obviously having a tough time coping with his newfound celebrity status – he’s a 20-year old who’s not fully mature, so it’s not exactly surprising. Life under a media microscope ain’t easy, especially when you don’t yet have the money to insulate yourself from the public (assuming you want to do so, of course).

Finebaum said, “When you say what he did the other day. When you say, ‘Walk in my shoes’ and you’re the Heisman Trophy winner and you have the world in front of you, that’s unacceptable. We’re reasonable people here. You can look past a lot of silly things, but I’m having a hard time looking past that.”

Boy, you’d think the kid poisoned a couple of trees, or something.

The interesting thing to watch with Manziel this season is how he copes with this critical attention to everything he says. Can he block that out when he’s on the field? If not, the Finebaums of the world are going to have a field day.

Today, as you may have heard, is a big day in the O’Bannon case. A federal judge is scheduled to hold a hearing on whether to certify the case as a class action. In advance of that, some more information filed by the plaintiffs became available, information that, if accurate, isn’t exactly flattering to the NCAA.

And other newly revealed parts of the plaintiffs’ document offer insight on the types of discussions that allegedly were occurring among the NCAA’s staff about all of this, including the degree to which NCAA officials were feeling pressure to please various corporate partners.

At least five “high-level NCAA employees expressed concern about the ‘obvious’ use of likenesses,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote. The five were identified in a footnote as Dennis Poppe, former vice president of championships and alliances; Damani Leech, director of championships and alliances; Joe Dunn, associate director of corporate alliances; Gail Dent, associate director of public and media relations; and Kevin Lennon, another vice president.

Again referencing an accompanying exhibit document that remained under seal as of late Wednesday night, the plaintiffs’ lawyers also wrote that even though members of the NCAA’s rules-interpretation staff had the view “that using the images of [student-athletes] to promote products was ‘contrary to our amateurism principles,’ more senior officials at the NCAA reminded [rules-interpretation staffers] that ‘(w)e, as you point out, are trying to realize revenue from these videos that continue to promote the championships and keep our corporate champions and partners happy so that they continue to provide revenue to the NCAA membership.’ Bo Kerin of (the rules-interpretation staff) responded, ‘I hear you loud and clear!’.”

Yesterday, the city of Jacksonville and the Jaguars announced plans for major renovations to the north end zone at EverBank Field. Why should we care about that? Well, because tucked away in that announcement is the news that around 7,000 seats will be yanked out of there to accommodate the changes, although we’re assured that “temporary seating can be installed for major events that will require a larger stadium capacity”.

Uh, huh.

There’s Cocktail Party lip service in the announcement, but let’s face it – there’s no way there’s enough room elsewhere for temporary seating to make up for the loss of 7,000 seats. Which means the inevitable law of supply and demand is about to work its magic on our wallets. More money and crappier seating. Ain’t it great?

Quote Of The Day

“It brings back a great Bulldog running back in Thomas who has NFL playing experience and has had success as a college coach at multiple schools. He also inherits a position that has been built to an elite level by Bryan. And it gives Bryan the opportunity to return to coaching the position he played and the one where he cut his teeth serving as a graduate assistant under wide receiver coach John Eason here at UGA. It also provides him with a new experience as a passing game coordinator.” -- Mark Richt, AB-H, 2/16/15